2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

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Craig
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Re: 2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

Post by Craig »

The ALP also have several pages of transport policies in their 2018 platform document released back in July, but this pre-dates big announcements including Suburban Rail Loop, Melton/Wyndham electrification and extra 25 Level Crossing Removals.

Most of it though is vague positive language without any real commitments to do stuff and would be supported by any party in principle. Reminds me of transport strategies local councils put out without clear plans to achieve anything other than a random bike path they were already planning.

One curious point obviously inserted to keep the RTBU on side is "Labor will explore options to provide more efficient public transport services, including considering returning the operation of services into Government Hands" - like most of the statements, considering something is not an actual policy though.

https://www.viclabor.com.au/wp-content/ ... 18-Web.pdf

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Craig :-)
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BroadGauge
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Re: 2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

Post by BroadGauge »

Craig wrote:One curious point obviously inserted to keep the RTBU on side is "Labor will explore options to provide more efficient public transport services, including considering returning the operation of services into Government Hands" - like most of the statements, considering something is not an actual policy though.
I wonder which party was in power when the contracts with private operators were recently renewed last year - or when the other previous renewals happened in 2004 and 2009.

:twisted:
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Heihachi_73
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Re: 2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

Post by Heihachi_73 »

Ignoring the fact that Labor was quoted above, given that only two political parties are ever in power in Australia it wouldn't be too hard to guess anyway, and neither party wants to touch public services (of any kind, not just transport) if they can help it. Returning services to government hands can also go the other way, where the services are reduced as much as possible by the government (as a cost-cutting measure, of course - because all government services are meant to be for-profit, no?) in order to make them nonviable so that they can be sold off again.

That said, if they sold off something like Australia Post (the legally anti-competitive, closed-on-Sundays joke of a mail service is still run by the government), would we be suddenly be paying $8+ to send a letter? Or maybe $4 ("four times the stamp rate") if they have to follow the rules.
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Craig
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Re: 2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

Post by Craig »

Some late announcements:

Liberals: $70M for bus improvements - https://www.matthewguy.com.au/media-rel ... s-services
Nine News on Twitter stated this might be across 40 routes but media release uses vague statements and could merely be more "business as usual" upgrades we have seen by both parties, rather than the likes of the SmartBus upgrades of 2009 & 2010.

A specific $3M has been pledged for Ballarat bus upgrades - https://www.matthewguy.com.au/media-rel ... -services/

ALP: 3 Level Crossings in Deer Park to go to round out their pledge of an extra 25, a total of 75 - https://www.facebook.com/DanielAndrewsM ... =3&theater

There have also been some minor bus announcements:
* $8.9M for a new route from Craigieburn to Mickleham and Kalkallo - http://www.rosspence.com.au/media-relea ... rn-by-bus/ (Possibly funded in 2018/2019 budget?)
* A new Craigieburn - Mernda link - http://www.bronwynhalfpenny.org.au/medi ... aigieburn/
* A second route for Keysborough South - http://www.martinpakula.com.au/media-re ... ugh-south/
* Frequency upgrades for Romsey & Lancefield - http://www.mary-annethomas.com.au/media ... lancefield (this is stated to be on top of streamlining of the local spaghetti network earmarked for early 2019 - https://static.ptv.vic.gov.au/public-tr ... r-2018.pdf )

A statement in a few media releases that "Labor will invest $10 million in new bus services in our growing suburbs and regions." would merely fund handful of new routes or minor upgrades to be expected in new suburbs, nothing substantial at all...

Greens: Free Public Transport for school students - https://greens.org.au/vic/news/new-plan ... t-students
This would be similar to free travel polices in NSW and the 70c student fare in Perth.

Kind Regards


Craig :-)
Last edited by Craig on Fri Nov 23, 2018 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Craig
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Re: 2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

Post by Craig »

Also worth a read - PTUA scorecard - https://www.ptua.org.au/2018/11/16/elec ... scorecard/

They have ranked the major three as Greens then ALP then Libs. I doubt the last-minute bus announcement today is enough to change the overall ranking for the Libs.

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Craig :-)
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PaxInfo
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Re: 2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

Post by PaxInfo »

Report on Liberals bus promise. 'about 40 new routes' in Melbourne and 'a dozen more' in regional areas.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/victori ... 50hup.html

Article also gives some recent history including disagreement between the Labor government and bus operators.
Are you being served? Service aspects of public transport in Melbourne http://melbourneontransit.blogspot.com & MelbOnTransit on Twitter.
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Re: 2018 Victorian state election - party transport policies

Post by PaxInfo »

After an election is a new cabinet and ministry. And departmental restructuring.

We'll be back to having a Department of Transport.

And a new minister for public transport.

https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/a-strong ... ictorians/
Are you being served? Service aspects of public transport in Melbourne http://melbourneontransit.blogspot.com & MelbOnTransit on Twitter.
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